Love Like There's No Tomorrow
by SPN221B
Summary: After a mission goes terribly wrong, Halt goes searching for his apprentice. What they find is... Much more than just an apprentice.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello. I'm PFT3000. Well enjoy... Oh and Halt gets to do the disclaimer. Also this happens about after book four, Battle for Skandia.**

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Halt: Why me? Can't you do it?

Me: I'll give you coffee.

Halt: ShedoesnotownRanger'sApprentice,oranyofthecharaters! Now! Where is my coffee?

Chapter 1.

Halt had been pacing for hours. Will was supposed to be back five days ago. The first two days were understandable. It had been a steady downpour with winds that almost blew down Halt's little cabin. The next day the sun had come out for a few hours and it rained some more. But even that was just a light sprinkle. The next two days it had been all sun shine. He had already told Crowley that if Will wasn't back in two days, he was going to search for him. Crowley and him had argued for two hours over this.

"Halt, be reasonable! Will will be just fine. We need you in Redmont just in case the runoff starts a flood." Crowley said trying to reason with Halt.

"He's MY apprentice Crowley, which means he is MY responsibility. I have to go." Halt argued, refusing to give in.

"Fine! You win! But at least wait for two more days."

"Deal. Now if you'll excuse me I have some planning to do." Halt said walked out.

Crowley sighed. Will had been captured by Skandians, put on the paddles, introduced to warmweed that almost killed him, and Halt was worried about this?!

"I swear that man gets harder to deal with every time Will goes somewhere." Crowley mumbled to himself.

An arrow went flying by his head.

"I heard that!" Halt shouted.

Two days later Halt was saddling up Abelard. Crowley watched and shook his head. He knew that Will was important to Halt and was a son to him, but he never guessed that Halt worried about him this much. He never guessed Halt worried about anything this much.

"Well not even a ranger knows everything." he thought.

"Hello, Crowley. What brings you here?" Halt asked, tightening the girth an Abelard's saddle.

"A question from Gilan. He wants to know if you'd like help on this crazy search." Crowley asked.

"Depends if you'll let him go." Halt (obviously) was still angry with Crowley, but he really wanted Gilan's help.

"I wouldn't be asking if that was so."

A small, quick smile lit up Halt's face. "I'd very much appreciate it. You never know what Will has got himself into."

"Okay. He's waiting at Castle Redmont for you."

"Thanks old friend." a sad smile came across Halt's face.

"Good luck! You're ganna need it."

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 **Well that's chapter 1. What in the world has Will got himself into? To find out keep a ranger's eye out for chapter 2. See you everybody!**

 **PFT3000**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I'm back. So let's see... What happened last time? Ahhh... Yes. Halt set out to find Will. Well now we shall see what happens next...**

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Chapter 2

"Rain, rain, rain. That's all it ever does." Will muttered to himself.

Ever since this rain started, Will had been stuck in this cavern. It was horrible! He couldn't practice or ride. If he didn't get back soon people would start worrying about him. Yikes. Halt wouldn't get away with treason to the king this time. Besides, he was still in Araluen. Will coughed. Tug walked over and nuzzled him.

"You okay?" the horse seemed to ask.

"I'm fine Tug. You get some rest. I'll watch out."

"Okay, but if you need me just holler."

Will smiled. "Don't be such a worrywart."

Tug shook his mane at that comment. "I am not a worrywart!"

Will still found it crazy that he found his horse such good company. Will looked out again. "This rain will never stop." he thought.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

While this little conversation was going on, Gilan and Halt were riding towards that cavern. In the pouring rain. While bandits kept trying to sneak up on them. And looking for Will.

"Gilan, want to catch some bandits?" Halt asked as another cry of pain went through the air.

"Why not? Sounds like they're hurting somebody." Gilan urged Blaze into a canter.

"Then let's go!"

As they got closer, they saw many of the men had gone down. They had arrows sticking out of their chest. Not just any arrows, Ranger arrows. Gilan and Halt looked at each other. They had found the missing apprentice. Two men just then flew out of the cavern uncounsous. They had horse hoof prints on their foreheads. Tug had scored again.

"Will, you in here?" Halt asked cautiously.

Will spun around, bow up and an arrow nocked and drawn. He lowered the bow a little as he saw it was just Halt and Gilan. "It's just you." Will said, obviously tired.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Gilan asked, getting a hold on Tug.

"Thankfully, yes. I'm fine. What happened? See for yourself. I just decide to pick this cavern for the fun of it, according to the bandits." Will motioned to the back of the cavern and took Tug from Gilan.

Halt gasped at what was in the back of the cavern. "By Gorlog's beard, how did we never know about this?! It's bigger than the gathering clearing. Almost as big as Castle Araluen!"

The fact that Halt was surprised, surprised Gilan even more than Halt. "We could fit all 50 rangers, their apprentices, and another 100 people in here!"

"I was just trying to get Tug out of the rain, nothing more. And I stumbled on this when I saw the cavern went further back." Will shuffled his feet nervously.

The cavern - when lit up - showed a field of green grass and in that field was a treasure fit for a king. Also in that field was a crop of sweet corn.

"Well I don't know about you to, but I'm extremely tired. I haven't got any rest since the rain started which was four days ago." Will yawned.

"You get some sleep Will. You too Gilan. I'll take first watch." Halt told his former and current apprentices.

"Okay. Wake me if you need me." Gilan answered.

When Will didn't answer they looked over. Will was already curled up in his cloak, asleep. "Halt, I think I'll take his watch if you would like." Gilan offered.

"No, I'll take it Gilan. Just get some rest. You'll need it tomorrow." Halt shook his head.

"Kay. Night Halt."

"Night Gil."

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 **Well chapter 2 is done. I hope you enjoyed it, seeing that it was sort of short. Oh well. See you in the next chapter. Please review.**

 **PFT3000**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back! And it's only been a few hours since I updated! I am on a roll! So last time everyone was saying goodnight. Let's see what happens next...**

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Chapter 3

"Gilan! Wake up!" Will whispered.

"What? Is it my turn to take watch?" Gilan mumbled.

"I don't know! All I know is that Halt is missing and we need to find him!" Will shouted somewhat.

"What?!" Gilan was fully awake now. "What do you mean by "Halt is missing!"?"

Gilan looked at Will confused. And what he saw made him sad, fearful, and angry all at the same time. "Will, what happened?" Gilan said softer this time.

"I heard fighting and a bow snap. I went to the front of the cavern and saw Halt, unconscious, with three men talking. Two are still there. The other one took Halt away and took Abelard with him. It's my fault. I'm the reason you two came here and looks what happens! Halt gets captured and you're worn out. It's all my fault!" Will started shouting, and even though he tried, tears falling gently to the ground.

"It's not your fault. Now let's go find Halt. It could be life or death for him right now." Gilan said to Will, and then thought to himself. "Or death now."

They tip toed to the front and almost yelped in surprise. There were over 30 men now. The two that were there before had gone outside with their other "friend". They couldn't see Halt or the three men anywhere. And right now Gilan and Will weren't sure they wanted to.

"Will... I thought you said there were only THREE men, not THIRTY!" Gilan whispered loudly.

"There were only three men. The number has grown since that ten minutes ago." Will was growing ansouis. "We need to get out and fast. There's no shelter what-so-ever here. If we don't hurry, they'll find us and then we may never find Halt, much less escape ourselves."

Gilan sighed. He knew Will was right, but that didn't make it any easier. "Fine Will. We will try to get out. No guarantees', but we'll try."

Will smiled. "Thanks Gilan. Now... Where in this cavern can we find a place to hide? They'll be on the lookout when they walk down to the back of the cavern. I've scouted the walls and there is no place to hide without being seen. They have to use torches to see and the shadows cast right into the small creases in the cavern wall."

That gave them both an idea. "The corn field!" they whispered in union.

"To the corn field!" Gilan whispered.

And that's when they found the secret door in the corn field. That door just happened to lead to outside. "Gilan look at this." Will whispered.

"What is it?"

"It looks like a secret door. Wonder where it leads."

Gilan and Will smiled evilly and opened the door. After 30 minutes of twisty tight tunnels, they got outside. They smiled and went to climb down the hill. They stopped abruptly when they heard voices.

"Tell us, you little ranger brat!" a rough voice said, and was followed with a grunt of pain.

Gilan and Will looked at each other and frowned. They had found Halt, that they were sure of, but someone was hurting him. If had been any other Ranger they might have just charged in there, but this was Halt. He would have frowned very deeply at their tactics. Might as well sneak. Gilan and Will made a plan and then went to their spots. Will, who made sure the bandits couldn't see him, but Halt could, went to the tree behind the bandits. Gilan knocked out a bandit coming up the hill and took his extra clothes from him and put them on. Gilan nodded at the three bandits who nodded back and Halt saw the action. He looked towards the place the "bandit" had nodded to, to see Will. He nodded seeing that the "bandit" was really Gilan.

"Finally! You're here. What took you so long?" bandit one asked Gilan.

Gilan shrugged. "Maybe you should be more patient!" he spat at them, trying to manage a deep voice.

Including his voice was nowhere even close to deep he did a good job. "Whatever. Now look, that Ranger brat over there is a prisoner. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let him get away. Is that understood?"

"Understood."

Halt's heart leapt for joy when he saw they planned to leave Gilan alone with him. Bandit three came over to Halt. "This is one of our meanest men. I wouldn't try to escape if I was you." the bandit whispered to Halt.

When Halt rolled his eyes to heaven, the bandit smacked him across the face. Gilan resisted the urge to shoot the man and just kept his mouth closed. But Halt didn't. "Him? Mean? He looks like a softy compared to the rest of you guys." Halt scoffed.

Gilan looked at Halt with a look that said "SHUT UP OLD MAN!" Halt glared at him. The three bandits laughed. "You two should get along just fine. Don't be afraid to kill him if you need to." Gilan nodded.

When they left Gilan turned to Halt. "Can't you just shut up sometimes! You almost ruined our plans! Here we are trying to save you and yet you just keep yakking!" Gilan whispered loudly, then shouted, "Idiot! Don't you Rangers know anything?" Gilan yelled at him and Halt let out fake cry of pain.

The bandits down the hill smiled. "Those Rangers really DON'T know anything." one said.

"Ain't that the truth." another one mumbled.

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 **Okay, well Chapter three is done. Please review and watch out for Chapter four. See you soon... Hopefully. Halt sort of wants to kill me right now. *runs***

 **Halt: Sort of? Sort of?! I don't "sort of" want to kill you. I plain out want to!**

 **Me: Review! Halt, you don't die! I promise!**

 **Halt: I'll believe it when I see it. I know your reputation for killing people in your stories. And you do it a lot more when it comes to me!**

 **I'm running for my life,**

 **PFT3000**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back! It's only been a day since I've updated too! So enjoy and please, review. This chapter was inspired by the song The Sun is Rising by Britt Nicole. I don't own the song or Ranger's Apprentice, because if I did it would be terrible!**

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Chapter 4.

"Will." Gilan whispered. "Will! You can come down now."

"Finally. I thought you forgot about me!" Will climbed down the tree with ease.

"Halt. When will they come to relive me?" Gilan asked trying to get the time they needed to leave strait.

"Probley in four to five hours. The time is various on which men they have here. The longest one man has been here at once is three and a half hours." Halt shrugged.

Gilan sighed. Halt had been no help. Just a smart alic. They had one shot at this and if they failed they would have to leave Halt there and run. "Halt I need you to be serious. If we get the time wrong we will have to leave you here."

"So? I really don't care. Leave me." Halt shrugged again.

Will had gone and climbed back up the tree. He didn't want to leave Halt here, but if he kept this up it would be their only choice. He watched Halt and Gilan argue for a while, till he decided to interrupt them.

"Hey! Did any of you think to ask me what I thought? Oh, of course, I'm just an apprentice. I'm not supposed to think!" Will shouted, close to crying.

Halt and Gilan looked at each other realizing that Will was right. They had gotten so caught up in their little argument they had forgotten to ask of Will's option. Halt went to say something, but was cut off when Will started yelling again.

"But maybe, just maybe, I do have a plan. But neither of you would want to hear it." Will yelled and scurried farther up the tree.

They heard muffled cries and leaves rustling in the wind. But what was worse they heard someone coming up the trail. They knew this was bad. They had lost their chance and now they would have to leave Halt!

"Gilan leave me." Halt whispered franticly.

"No. You're leaving Halt. I'll stay here. Gilan, Halt, no "buts". Just let me do this." Will said stubbornly.

"I can't let you Will. The whole reason we came here was to help you!"

"Well next time, don't waste your time. Now get a move on! I'll hold off the bandits till you get to the horses! Go!" Will spat and turned away to face the bandits, but really he turned to hide his tears.

After that Gilan dragged Halt down the hill. They heard the cry of men being shot. Gilan, as much as he'd like to march right back up that hill and help Will, kept walking and dragging along a sulking Halt.

"Gilan! We can't leave him! He'll be killed almost instantly." Halt struggled to get out of Gilan grip, but he was to tired.

Gilan looked at his former mentor seriously. "Do you think I wanted to leave him there? I'd like to march back up that hill and cut down those bandits one by one. You're not the only one who doesn't agree to his plan, but he did this to help us and if we go back, the last few minutes of his life are going to be spent angry at us for coming back. Halt, sometimes we just have to let things go." Gilan talked quietly, knowing neither of them would ever see Will again.

"I guess you're right. Damn it! Why do BOTH of my apprentices have to be right today?!" Halt shouted more frustrated than mad.

They stared for about five minutes at the hill that contained Will. They heard a cry of pain and a few men shouting. After that, they left. They knew what had happened. Will was dead and they couldn't stand to be there any longer. When they tried to leave Tug wouldn't budge. It took prompting from Halt and Abelard and Blaze to get him to move and even then he was hesitant. They all were. I mean come on. Wouldn't you if your friend to all, master to some, apprentice to one died? I know I would be. And right now, it was all to true.

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 **Chapter 4 is done! So Will is dead and I proved Halt wrong. I said he wouldn't die and he didn't! Will did instead. :D So the sad ending is thanks to the song, What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts. So I know two things you're thinking. One, HOW DARE YOU KILL WILL! Two, I can't believe Will is really dead. Well watch out for chapter 5, because it may be sneaking around. See ya!**

 **PFT3000**


	5. Chapter 5

Well I'm back! It's only been a day. This is the LAST chapter and sorry, but it is shorter. Well enjoy and please review!

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Chapter 5.

Three years later.

"Steady there, Abelard. Steady boy." Halt pulled the horse gently to a stop.

As Halt dismounted, he checked the area of the cabin. Usually his apprentice did this, but let's just say he wasn't really "here". It was hard for him. Halt mentally smacked himself for thinking about Will again. He missed Will's constant smile and laughter.

"Why?" had been Halt's constant question? "He was only an apprentice. Why did he have to die?"

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Will being gone was taking its toll on Gilan too. He was mad he hadn't listened to his mentor that night. Maybe, just maybe, Will would have lived. Blaze nickered, bringing Gilan back to his tracking.

"Sorry Blaze. I guess I was just distracted." Gilan patted the horse's neck.

Gilan could almost hear Halt scolding him for that. He laughed and went back to his tracking. There had been 3 bear sightings here and he had been sent to check them out. He sighed and dismounted.

"Well hopefully Halt is having better luck than me."

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In a way Halt was. He knew someone was watching him and Abelard. The weird thing was Abelard had nickered, not a warning, but a hello. There was no horse that nickered back so it was just a person. The real question was not who was watching Halt, but why? It could be Gilan, but last time he had seen him was two weeks ago. He said he had to check out some bear sightings.

"That's it." Halt thought. "I'm going to shoot if they don't show themselves."

He raised his bow with an arrow, nocked and drawn. "Come out or I'll shoot!" Halt's keen eyes scanned the area.

A small figure in a Ranger's cloak, stepped into the clearing. He pulled the cowl of his cloak back and almost made Halt drop his bow. The older Ranger could say only one word.

"Will."

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"Will."

The man that had never let anyone see him cry did just that. Then he shook his head. "Stop crying. You are Halt. Eight feet tall and you kill bears with your bare hands." said one side of him, but the other said different. "You may be Halt, but you are also human. Cry. Will deserves it."

A hand on his shoulder told him Will was in front of him. "Halt." Will smiled, then both Rangers hugged.

Now the happy/sad moment was gone. Halt started to chew out Will. "Where have you been? We've thought you were dead for three years! Why haven't you come back till now? Are you staying? Does Gilan know yet?"

Will laughed. "You're as bad as me. I've just escaped, I was trapped, I might be staying, and no, Gil doesn't know. Happy?"

"You know what Will?"

"What?"

"I am. I really am."

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 **Well this is shorter than the others so I'll see you next time. Please review and I'll review one of your stories. Bye!**

 **PFT3000**


	6. Offer

Hey everyone! In the spirit of Christmas I have an offer for you! For every review you leave on one of my stories, I'll review one of yours! I'll do this until January 1st, 2017 starting today, December 22nd. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannaka, and Happy New Years(unless you're in China of course).

Best Regards,

PFT3000


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